One of the most important considerations in the design of chassis and cabinet assemblies to house tape recorders or other electrical equipment is the ease with which circuitry and mechanical parts can be installed and serviced. Thus, wall panels of a cabinet must be removable to provide access to the circuit boards. The chassis and cabinet must be light enough to be easily carried, yet rigid to prevent deformation of the structural parts and provide protection of circuitry and mechanical parts.
To reduce the internal operating temperature of the recorder or other equipment, the chassis structure should be relatively open, with numerous air flow paths for convection cooling of parts.
Finally, the assembly must be easy to construct and relatively inexpensive, to avoid adding substantially to the cost of the equipment.